Govt launches blood-cleaning machine for sickle cell 

The government yesterday commissioned a machine for removing components in donated blood that cause organ damage and kill people who are transfused with the blood.
Centralised at the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Lubowa, Wakiso District, the Health Ministry said during the commissioning yesterday that the technology dubbed RS3400 system is the first of its kind in the country.

“The machine irradiates blood and selectively destroys some genetic materials in some cells in the blood that can actually turn against your blood and it can destroy your organs,” said Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary  of Ministry of Health, said yesterday.
She added: “We are going to have more safe blood because we know that some people have been getting blood and they experience those [adverse] reactions. 90 percent of the people that get that reaction die.”

People who are at the highest risk of experiencing such adverse reactions are those who get blood from close relatives, those whose immunity is down and people who undergo organ or bone marrow transplants, Dr Francis Ssali, a blood specialist and deputy director of the JCRC, said.

“The reaction arises from a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes that present in donor blood product,” Dr Ssali explained. “These cells may not be compatible with the body of the recipient and react against them leading to organ damage, especially the skin, bone marrow, liver and stomach.”
Dr Ssali said some of the people with compromised immunity include those infected with HIV, people with kidney damage, cancers and newborns.
He  said the machine will also  facilitate  bone marrow transplants in the country starting this October.

Mr Leonard Nahwera, the head of the radiology unit at JCRC, said: “The machine is safer because it is not radioactive. It is just an X-ray. You only dispense it (radiation) when you need it. It doesn’t integrate or emit all the time like Cobalt 60 or other radiation modalities.” 

Machine capacity
The Shs1.4 billion machine was donated by an American company Sandia National Laboratories which is based in California, according to information from the Health Ministry.

 Dr Cissy Kityo, the director of JCRC said that although the American company has cleared the service contract for two years, JCRC would be charging Shs63,000 for each unit of blood irradiated to have money for servicing the machine when the contract ends. The blood will be sent to JCRC through arrangements with doctors and medical workers managing patients in different hosptials in the country.
She said the machine can clean 6 packs of blood in 4 minutes and handle 288 units in total in a day.